what isyour understanding
what is History from
elementary and high school
Answers
Answer:
Ha ha, this is a good question, and it depends largely on who’s teaching.
In my experience, primary school history sounds like this: “This is George Washington. He was a great man who served his country. That cherry tree story isn’t true, but you kids get the idea; he was honest and good. (Insert 3 other random facts about him.) Now go write a few paragraphs about what you like most about George Washington. Don’t forget, we have a multiple choice test on Friday.”
By contrast, my high school history was more like this: “Yeah, all that stuff you learned in primary school? A lot of it was BS. Washington was a pretty complicated guy, just like most guys, and we’ve put off erasing his name from our heritage just because we have a ton of other presidents to work on first. You can forget all that random stuff we taught you, like the thing about Washington’s teeth. Now go write a paper about the effects of the Great Depression and the New Deal on American life. At least 5 paragraphs.”
Middle school history is fun, very fact-based, and overall pretty cheerfully patriotic. High-school history seems to be understandably more realist, even pessimistic, connections-based, and critical. I was shocked to find upon entering high-school history that there isn’t one answer, not even a more-correct answer for most questions. High-schoolers have more freedom to form (and debate about) their own views on historical events, while middle-schoolers are often spoon-fed from flag-draped textbooks. Again, this is only my personal experience.